


Decoy

by Antigone2



Series: UsaMamo Week 2020 [1]
Category: Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon | Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-25
Updated: 2020-07-25
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:08:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,984
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25500388
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Antigone2/pseuds/Antigone2
Summary: When he first met Princess Serenity, Endymion had been counting the minutes until her visit was at an end. And now that it was time for her - and her companions - to leave, he wanted to fall to the floor and beg her stay.
Relationships: Chiba Mamoru/Tsukino Usagi, Prince Endymion/Princess Serenity
Series: UsaMamo Week 2020 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1847353
Comments: 6
Kudos: 88





	Decoy

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for the UsaMamo Week challenge on Tumblr! (come find me there, I'm idesofnovember).
> 
> The challenge is:
> 
> Day 1 - Silver Millennium
> 
> Day 2 - Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask
> 
> Day 3 - Usagi and Mamoru
> 
> Day 4 - Crystal Tokyo
> 
> Day 5 - AU
> 
> Day 6 - Free day
> 
> Day 7 - Mix and Match
> 
> I am going to try to write at least something small for each day! If I can't finish within the week, I plan to finish here at least!
> 
> Because these have all been written quickly due to the challenge deadline, this has not been beta'ed. Read at your own risk! Some grammatical errors may be in your future.
> 
> Here's Day 1- Silver Millennium

The evening was painting the sky brilliant purple as Endymion pressed his knees into his horse's side, urging the animal to run faster. There was no particular hurry for him to get back to the Golden Kingdom stables, but there was something immeasurably freeing about galloping across the fields, chasing the sun as the evening air whipped around his face.

Kunzite was waiting for him outside the stables, his face as serious as ever. "I was meant to brief you earlier," he said, sternly.

Endymion cursed, another thing Kunzite hated, as he brushed sweaty bangs from his eyes. "I completely forgot, Kunz, I'm sorry."

"The Princess of the Silver Millenium is arriving tomorrow, and you need to be fully prepared on the intricacies of-"

Endymion clapped Kunzite on the shoulder. "Old man, I've been practicing diplomacy since my first word," he laughed, "I'll be fine."

Kunzite bristled a little. "Princess Serenity is quite a step above local manor lords, Endy," he said.

"Well then, what's she like anyway?" Endymion tossed the question over his shoulder as he led the way out of the stable and onto the walkway leading to the gardens.

"The Princess?"

"You've met her," Endymion said, referring to the few times Kunzite was in assembly at the Silver Millenium, representing the Earth. "What can I expect?"

"We would have covered this in the briefing," Kunzite answered stiffly and Endymion rolled his eyes with a laugh.

"Sure, but I don't care to know briefing bullshit, what's she _like_?"

Kunzite hesitated, clearly not wanting to speak openly about such a powerful and important political figure. Endymion rolled his eyes again, strolling into the gardens as the sun finally slipped below the horizon, and the soft blue of twilight fell over the castle grounds.

"Come on, it's just me here," Endymion prodded and Kunzite finally sighed.

"Princess Serenity is…," he took a deep breath, pondering. "A very unique individual." Endymion raised his eyebrows.

"I don't think you'll like her very much," Kunzite finally said, his tone making it clear that was all Endymion was going to get out of him today. The prince grinned in victory for finally coaxing some candidness from his stoic guardian.

"Well, good thing I don't have to like her," he said, clapping Kunzite on the shoulder again and making his way inside.

* * *

The atmosphere in the ballroom was tense, wary. Even all the lavish decoration and excessive pomp the Golden Kingdom rolled out in honor of their esteemed guests was meant to challenge, not honor. And it was clear to Endymion that Princess Serenity was well aware of that.

She was gorgeous, which was something that Kunzite hadn't _bothered_ to mention, and would have been good for Endymion to know. Beautiful people interacted differently than average-looking or plain folks, beauty brought with it privileges beyond riches and power. And, beauty like Serenity's, along with a crown? It added a dimension the prince hadn't anticipated.

"I cannot overstate how deeply honored I am by this welcome, Prince Endymion," Serenity said, her accent almost flawless as she spoke the common tongue in a voice as silver as her kingdom. Her eyes were blue as the Earthen sky in summer, but they were shrewd, knowing, beneath her thick, dark lashes.

Endymion felt, uncomfortably, that she somehow saw more than he did, as if her lunar blood gave her some extrasensory advantage. He shook himself - this was no time to be falling into paranoid fantasies about the moon royalty.

"Please let your guardian know she is welcome to join in the festivities," Endymion said, nodding his head toward a sailor suited woman who stood at attention against the tapestried wall, her violet eyes alert. One of the famed senshi, the four unnaturally powerful soldiers who had taken an oath in childhood to guard Princess Serenity with their lives.

"Senshi Mars will do what she will," the princess said, with a graceful half-shrug. "Although I will make sure the welcome is extended to her."

"I'm surprised that more of your guard did not accompany you," Endymion offered, watching her reaction carefully.

To his surprise, she laughed a bit, a pale hand covering too-white, too-straight teeth. "Your highness, please believe that Mars is more than enough protection for me."

"Your lady's maid is also most welcome," Endymion added. "The castle staff converages on the upper balconies to watch the dancers, and the lower lawns to see the fireworks."

The princess took a breath, smiling at Endymion with a sardonic edge he didn't think was exactly aimed at him. "Ren is perfectly happy to remain in my chambers until I return."

He nodded, keeping his expression pleasant while he seethed a bit inside. Princess Serenity seemed to think her lady in waiting had little interest outside of serving her. Then again, perhaps that was true. Rumor had it that Princess Serenity was so beloved by her subjects they simply lived and breathed for her. Endymion didn't quite see the appeal.

* * *

The next afternoon, Endymion was to offer to take Princess Serenity on a tour through the gardens. This, after spending all morning in political meetings, with the princess being as eloquently spoken as she was vague and noncommittal. He honestly never wanted to see her again, let alone spend all afternoon on her arm, touring one of his favorite places with one of his (newly) least favorite people.

"I don't know Kunz, I'm feeling a little," Endymion paused and cleared his throat roughly, coughing a bit, "hoarse? Perhaps I am becoming ill. I wonder if you might accompany the princess in my stead?"

"Sire, I would be delighted to," said Kunzite, who as far as Endymion knew had never been 'delighted' about anything in his life, "but I worry about the message that would send."

Endymion, who didn't give two moon rocks about the message that would send, glowered sullenly as he followed Kunzite to the courtyard.

There, standing among the trellises and creeping ivy, stood three figures. Serenity, resplendent in a gown of white and gold, Mars, still in her uniform, and a smaller figure in a plainer dress of white and silver, with a circlet on her forehead and a beaded headdress modestly covering her hair. She was bouncing on her feet, looking around in open excitement and awe.

Kunzite raised a single brow, which Endymion recognized as a gesture that, in anyone else, would have been jaw dropping shock.

"I wasn't aware she would be coming along," Kunzite said.

The princess smiled beguilingly, "Well, to be perfectly honest, my lady in waiting often does not deign to wait for an official invitation." She shifted her gaze to Ren, raising her brows in an expression that reminded Endymion of an exasperated parent. "Even if she has to resort to subterfuge. Isn't that, right Ren?"

In response, the lady's shoulders raised to her ears, and she bit down on her lower lip not quite hiding a sheepish smile. Endymion found himself smiling at her.

He'd been under the impression she was a maid, but Serenity's reference to her as Lady in Waiting made much more sense, the way she dressed and carried herself and looked directly at the princess with no hint of humility. Then again, he wasn't sure how things worked on the moon.

"She's more than welcome to join us, of course," Endymion said, graciously extending his hand to Ren.

She blushed to her roots, looking at him in unabashed admiration as he took her hand and brushed his lips against her knuckles. He was mostly teasing - and wanting to spite Serenity - but the soft gasp that escaped the young lady's pink lips shot right through him in an unexpected way.

A bit shaken, he stood and offered his elbow to Serenity, who rested her delicate hand on the inside of his elbow, and they started along.

Endymion glanced back at Ren, who made a face at Serenity's turned back. He bit back a grin, and she caught his gaze and gave him a conspiratorial smile. He winked back at her, feeling suddenly a bit better about the afternoon's company.

Endymion could usually give the garden tour in his sleep, murmuring facts and history and identifying various exclusive hybrids and rare specimens to politely bored visiting dignitaries. It always went exactly the same.

Except for this time. And it was thanks to Ren, who gasped in awe and squealed in delight, and asked question after question about each blossom and leaf and buzzing bee.

At Ren's first outburst -exclaiming over the brilliant colors of a hybrid rose named for the royal family - Endymion had cringed and looked at Serenity, worried for a sharp reprimand.

But instead, Princess Serenity seemed to regard Ren with a bit of sisterly indulgence, and her patience with the lady's impertinence raised Endymion's opinion of the princess considerably.

"Do they always bloom this much?" Ren asked, running her fingers over a purple iris. "The colors are so deep!"

"Are the flowers on the moon much different?" Endymion asked. Somehow during the course of the walk, he'd ended up in step with Ren instead of Serenity, and the princess didn't seem to mind.

"They are paler," Ren said. She touched the pad of her finger to the petal of a red rose, and Endymion found himself hypnotized by the movement of her delicate fingers. "Ouch!" she cried, suddenly, pulling her hand back. A small drop of blood pooled on her fingertip, and she looked at the rose with a mix of betrayal and shock.

Hissing between his teeth, Endymion instinctively took her hand, only momentarily distracted by the warm softness of her small hand in his. "I'm sorry," he murmured, "I should have warned you." He caressed her fingertips with his. "Sometimes the plants fight back." He ducked his head to catch her eye, and smiled at her until her soft pink lips lifted up in a small smile of her own.

"There," he said softly, reluctantly sliding his hand from hers.

She blinked in astonishment at her healed finger. "Thank you," she said, lifting her shining eyes to his. "Thank you so much."

It took Kunzite's quiet 'ahem' behind them to snap them both back to reality after far too long holding each other's gaze.

"Yes, well," Endymion cleared his throat, offering his arm to Serenity again, "if we continue this way, there is a lovely sculpture by a famed Earth artist…"

* * *

Running an agitated hand through his hair, Endymion stalked through the archway lined path toward the reflection pool and rose garden. The moon was nearly full and lending a silvery light to the grounds, which were otherwise only lit by the small circles of orange light from the torches mounted along the pathways.

It was late, and he really ought not to be out by himself, but he couldn't sleep.

That night at dinner he was meant to be making small talk with Mars and Serenity, and he found himself unable to think of anything but Ren. Was she bored? Lonely? He had a plate loaded with all the delicacies of the dinner sent up to the princess's guest chambers for her, and wished he could be there to witness her reactions to the new tastes, and compare their cuisine with that of the moon kingdom.

Endymion had asked after her, perhaps a bit too ardently, if Kunzite's warning look had been any indication, but he couldn't help it. He wanted to know if her family was noble, if she'd been raised with Serenity or in another place. Was she close to her family? Did she have any special talents? What had made the princess select her specifically to join this visit?

But Serenity's answers were vague, or else she purposely seemed to misunderstand him or change the subject. Kunzite was seething, Mars was watching him with a suspicious fire in her violet eyes, and Serenity's conversation remained stiff and formal. Being dismissed from dinner was like getting reprieve from hell.

Lost in his thoughts, he nearly knocked over the very object of his preoccupation.

"Oh!" she cried, stumbling backward as he rounded a corner of hedging directly into Ren's much smaller frame. He caught her by the waist and gently tugged her upright, but she overcompensated in uprighting and ended up in his arms. She was so…. warm. And soft. His arms slipped around her tiny frame easily, her head only coming up to his chest, her hands grasping in the fabric of his shirt as she steadied herself.

It was only a moment, but Endymion knew he would never forget the feel of her in his arms.

She stepped back and apologized, cheeks flushing a delightful shade of rose pink. "I think I'm still getting used to the differences in the gravity," she explained, with a sheepish shrug. She carefully twisted a shimmering lock of silver hair back beneath her headdress in a movement so effortlessly breathtaking that Endymion needed a moment to recover.

"Have… have I made you angry?" Ren asked, reaching her fingers to his tunic and then checking herself and folding them back.

"No," he croaked, and then cleared his throat, tried again. "Of course not," he smiled, holding out his arm. "I see I am not the only one unable to sleep tonight. Shall I show you more of the castle grounds?"

She smiled, and it lit up the whole garden. "I'd be honored." She took his arm, and the feeling of her fingertips resting on his elbow was all he felt the entire night.

* * *

All day Endymion was in a haze, lost in the memories of Ren's enthusiasm and curiosity about everything he'd shown her the night before. Her eyes shined with delight and she didn't hesitate to gasp or laugh out loud, and after any outburst she'd put a delicate hand to her lips and share a twinkling half-smile with him, knowing she'd broken decorum and them both sharing the secret of not caring in the least.

Endymion went to the garden again, after dark had fallen, heart pounding. He hardly dared to hope… could he be lucky a second time?

Relief and joy bubbled up in his chest when he saw Ren, waiting shyly by a small fountain. When she saw him, she smiled, bit her lower lip and lifted her fingers in a slight wave.

He jogged the last few steps, unable to pull the wide smile from his face. "I was hoping I'd have the extraordinary luck to run into you once again."

"What an astonishing coincidence," Ren grinned back. When Endymion held out his hand to help her up, she curled her fingers around his palm and stood. He didn't let go. Neither did she.

The lake was gorgeous in the moonlight, shimmering and ethereal. But Endymion was amused that Ren was most delighted by the sounds of small frogs and the chirping of crickets in the soft reeds. "You have a chorus singing for you every night!" she gushed, eyes wide with awe and joy and… longing.

Endymion swallowed against the sudden dryness in his throat, as Ren knelt on the pebbly shore- with little concern for her white dress - and held out a hand to a tiny turtle that regarded her with beady, unbothered eyes.

"Do you like it here?" he asked, his voice whispering into the night among the rustling reeds and the lapping of the water.

Ren turned to look up at him, bathed in moonlight she looked like a goddess from a storybook. "Yes," she whispered back.

* * *

The next night he showed her the observatory, and she ran her fingertips over Nephrite's star charts and exclaimed over the view of the castle grounds from the height of the terrace.

But when she peered through the telescope at her home in the sky, that Ren clasped her hands in front of her heart and sighed. "It's almost like I'm back there," she said. She pulled back from the eyepiece and smiled up at him. "Amazing!"

"I'm sure it's quite different being there," Endymion said, after a beat. He strolled out to the terrace and rested his hands on the stone railing, Ren followed leaning next to him. He turned to look at her, as she admired the landscape all around her with silent reverence.

"Yes," she murmured, in the response to the question he'd forgotten he'd asked. "It is different in person. Just like here. I've spent so many years looking up at the Earth, like a jewel in the sky…," Abruptly she turned forward, the back of her arms resting against the railing. She looked up at Endymion, who turned slightly to face her, "Can I confess something to you?"

"Of course," he said, and her lips pulled into a tight little smile, eyes sparkling a bit.

"I wasn't supposed to come with the princess," she whispered, hand beside her mouth. Then she pressed her lips together and looked up at him with insincere contrition.

A short, breathy laugh erupted from Endymion before he could stop himself. "What? You mean you are here uninvited?"

She bobbed her head in a pert little nod, "Yes. They were… very put out when she noticed I'd latched on to the teleport but…" Ren shrugged slightly and turned her head to look across the grounds. "... I had to see it for myself."

"I'm glad you did," Endymion said, softly. She turned toward him again, and he realized at once how very, very close they were. A strand of hair had escaped from her headdress, it seemed to caress her cheek in the breeze. His hands ached with the want to touch her.

"Did my kingdom meet your expectations, little Ren?" he asked, still so softly, as if loud noise would break this spell.

"Oh, yes," she breathed, and her eyes were enthralled and warm and somehow sad. Gently, slowly, he reached out and brushed her hair back behind her ear, the pads of his fingers lingering against the softness of her skin. In response, she shut her eyes and leaned into his touch, and that was how they kissed.

It was tender at first, hesitant, only the barest of touches. But when her lips trembled against his, all sense was lost and he crushed her to him, deepening the kiss. She threw her arms around his shoulders and he cradled her against the railing, his hand on her back and her hands in his hair and he kissed and kissed and _kissed_ her.

And never wanted to stop.

* * *

When he first met Princess Serenity, Endymion had been counting the minutes until her visit was at an end. And now that it was time for her - and her companions - to leave, he wanted to fall to the floor and beg her stay. At least for another day, another week, one more night with Ren in his arms under the cloak of darkness.

That afternoon, while under the guise of letting the princess return to her chambers to rest before her journey home, he sought to find Ren there. When Serenity's chambers were empty save for the entering princess, Endymion went on a frantic search for her young lady in waiting.

Not caring what eyebrows he raised by asking after her, he was finally directed to the reflecting pool, where Ren sat in the brilliant sunlight, watching the ripples on the water.

He sent the gardeners away and sat next to her. She smiled at him, a sad smile, and the shine of tears in her eyes broke his heart.

There was a proper way to do this, a better, more romantic way, but she was going to leave him and there wasn't time.

"Ren," he said, taking her soft hands in his, "Would you…. Would you wish to stay?"

Her head tilted, confusion in her brow. "Stay?"

"Here," the word was a breath, a croak, forced out by his heart pounding in his throat. "On Earth. With me."

Ren lowered her eyes to their clasped hands, her lips pulling down in grief. "I cannot."

"But do you wish it?" he pressed. "If you do, I will find a way to negotiate with the princess, with the Queen. With your family, even. They could come, if you'd miss them. It could even -" He spoke with the confidence of a prince, used to getting his way, used to promising the world and actually delivering.

And Ren let him talk, allowing herself to be caught up in the fantasy where a lunar lady in waiting could marry the prince of another planet, before Endymion finally stopped talking and looked to her for an answer.

"Could you leave Earth," she murmured, with a resignation that belied little of the happy, carefree person she'd been just the night before, "and come with me to the moon?"

Endymion actually recoiled at the question. "Of course not," he said, although he knew she expected the answer. "I'm the prince. This is my kingdom. My life belongs to it."

Slowly, she unlinked her fingers from his, reached up and removed her headpiece, letting silver hair tumble down her back in twin waves. Keeping her sad eyes on his curious ones, she unlinked the circlet from her forehead and let it drop, with her hands, to her lap. The moon signal shone between her brows.

Endymion's heart stopped, broke, and slowly started thudding, hollowly, in his chest.

"You're…"

"Senshi Venus is my decoy," Ren - Princess Serenity- continued. "She was sent in my stead as it was considered too dangerous for me to actually come to Earth. What I told you was true, I did sneak along. I couldn't lose the opportunity to finally see the Golden Kingdom in person. To finally meet you, the most beautiful person I've ever seen." Her voice was thick, her eyes shining with unshed tears. "And I'm not sorry I did," her eyes shifted over his shoulder, to someone else. "It was beyond even my wildest imagination."

He turned and Serenity- Senshi Venus, he corrected in his shocked mind - was standing by the bench, looking both firm and deeply sad. Beside her stood Mars, and - Endymion was shocked to see - Kunzite.

"But I am sorry I lied to you," Serenity said, looking at Endymion as the first, hot tears coursed down her face. "I understand if you hate me."

And then his hands were caressing her face, brushing away her tears while his lips spilled forth comforting murmurs of forgiveness, of admiration, of desperation. He pressed his lips to her forehead, to the glowing crescent moon that sealed their fate.

"Needless to say, you two can never see each other again," Mars said.

"But I love him!" Serenity protested, and Endymion couldn't help the way his heart leapt at the words.

"Perhaps you should not have come, then," Kunzite said, "and trusted those who had your best interests in mind."

Endymion tightened his grip on Re- Serenity's hands, as if he could keep her merely by wishing.

Venus reached out, gently, gracefully and lifted the circlet back onto Serenity's forehead, hiding the symbol of her true identity. She then gently tucked the waves of silver hair back under the beaded headpiece.

"It's time to go," she said.

* * *

Many nights since Endymion found sleep eluded him, but unlike before, walks in the garden brought him no peace. There was no beauty in anything. Not anymore.

Still, one such night brought him deep into the maze of hedges and flowers and fountains, as if he could outpace his heartbreak if he walked fast enough.

And there, by the fountain, the figure that turned to face him took his breath away.

It was Ren - Princess Serenity. In a gorgeous white dress, hair visible and flowing in the gentle breeze, eyes and skin luminous in the moonlight, the crescent moon shimmering on her forehead.

She smiled, and the world was beautiful once again.


End file.
